Pennsylvania Foreclosure Activity Rises in January

Foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 4,566 Pennsylvania properties in January, a 23 percent increase from December and 24 percent above the level reported for January 2011, according to the latest RealtyTrac® U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

Pennsylvania had the 27th highest foreclosure rate, reporting one in every 1,219 Pennsylvania housing units with a foreclosure filing in January.

Delaware County posts top foreclosure rate in the state for January One in every 446 housing units in Delaware County had a foreclosure filing in January — 1.4 times the national average and 2.7 times the state average — the highest foreclosure rate of all Pennsylvania counties for the month. Philadelphia County had the second highest rate of one in every 546 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month — 1.1 times the national average and 2.2 times the state average. Allegheny County had the third highest rate of one in every 792 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month — 1.5 times the state average.

Philadelphia County leads state in foreclosure activity in January Philadelphia County led all counties, reporting 1,228 properties with foreclosure filings for the month. Allegheny County had the second highest total, reporting 744 properties with foreclosure filings. Delaware County was third, reporting 500 properties with foreclosure filings. Fourth highest was Lancaster County, recording 234 properties with foreclosure filings. Bucks County was fifth highest, tallying 230 properties with foreclosure filings for the month.

State a moderate contributor to total foreclosure activity in January Pennsylvania accounted for 2 percent of the 210,941 properties with foreclosure filings reported nationwide in January. Total U.S. activity increased by 3 percent from December, but was still down over 19 percent from the level reported in January 2011. One in every 624 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month.

“Although overall foreclosure activity was down from a year ago for the 16th straight month in January, we continue to see signs on a local and regional level that the frozen-up foreclosure process is beginning to thaw,” said Brandon Moore, CEO of RealtyTrac. “Foreclosure activity increased on a year-over-year basis for the first time in more than 12 months in Florida, Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania, following a pattern we saw in late 2011 in states such as California, Arizona and Massachusetts.

“We expect the pattern of increasing foreclosures to continue in the coming months, especially given the finalized mortgage and foreclosure settlement reached in early February between 49 state attorneys general and five of the nation’s largest lenders,” Moore continued. “The settlement sets forth clear guidelines for lenders and servicers to follow when foreclosing, which should allow them to push through some of the delayed foreclosures from last year. Other roadblocks to foreclosure are still in place at the state level, however, including legislation altering the foreclosure process and lawsuits against lenders. We expect to see somewhat uneven trends in local and regional foreclosure numbers going forward as lenders work through these additional legislative and legal roadblocks.”